Have doing exposures these few days as I need to go yo the university and I return home totally collapsing and crying, why my mind doesn’t want to release the thoughts?
Our brains evolved over millions of years to protect us from danger and keep us safe. Hearing the crack of a branch in the forest and making the split second decision to run for it is what kept our ancestors alive long enough to allow us to exist today. With OCD our brains are continuing that longstanding job of keeping us safe by looking for threats, but they're misfiring, creating fear and guilt, and generating intrusive thoughts and images in a misinformed effort to keep us safe from a threat that isnt there. Its why OCD feels so real, because to that primal part of our brain it is. Its also why our brain doesn't want to let these thoughts go, because it sees them as a mortal danger to us. Its also what makes you and every other OCD sufferer so so brave. To get through it you have to learn to sit with these very real thoughts and feelings that are screaming at you to respond with the same urgency they would have shouted at our ancestors in order to get them to run from a Tiger. Really its genuinely incredible how brave people with OCD are when doing these exposures. It would be like asking any regular person to stand completely still and do nothing while a Tiger lunges at them, thats how brave you're being.
@FightOCDwithme Thank you very much for your kind words 🙏
What a great explanation! The best I've ever read on this community board. Might I add that ERP therapy may make us feel worse before we see improvement. Simply put, OCD is fighting to keep you on its treadmill. But it WILL get better if we work on it. Recovery tends to be messy, not linear.
Hi everyone. I'm feeling kinda scared because I have to wait a whole month to start ERP therapy, but I feel like I need to start doing exposures now because the longer I wait, the more anxiety I get. It just feels like the OCD monster is getting worse. One thing that helps me is asking one person about an obsession I have...asking a person that I trust, and then doing an exposure after I get the "ok" to do it. I feel like I do need 1 reassurance and then I can go ahead and do it. I know i'm not supposed to ask for reassurance at all, but i dont think you're supposed to do ERP on your own right? Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do while waiting for therapy? PS-the reason there is a wait is bc she's on vacation. After she's back we will meet regularly.
6 months ago I had a severe panic attack and it’s changed my life. Scared of 99% of foods, can’t take meds out of fear, been hospitalized a few times cause of blood sugar drops and other health scares due to poor eating. I’m constantly scanning my body finding any little thing that’s uncomfortable and then fixate and panic over the smallest things. Whether be a smell I’m unfamiliar with, a weird sensation in my arm literally anything freaks me out….. who has had success with exposure or has dealt with similar issues. I feel like I’m unintentionally slowly killing myself but I’m too scared for meds and therapy doesn’t seem to make much of a dent right now. Please share some success stories I need hope.
My sister is going to a concert and coming back to the house where me and my family live. In my mind her clothes are extremely dirty. And I know her coming back is going to cause a lot of strong contamination thoughts to enter my head. I’m exhausted already from pushing myself and I can’t seem to focus on anything when these thoughts are really strong. I’m in college and this makes focusing on homework difficult. I failed an exam the other day bc I couldn’t stop thinking about what I need to clean and then cleaning. It’s really exhausting.
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